Self Directed Learning Plan
My Interpretation of the Learning Outcomes
Gain Shakespeare Literacy
a. Breadth – After each play we are choosing to read over the next four week I will write a post about what I learned about the play. One of the things I am interested in studying based on this bullet is to study Shakespeare’s understanding of characterization. I am, as I read, going to look for other topics to write about.
b. Depth – The Merchant of Venice was my favorite play at the Shakespearian festival this summer and I intend to study it more this semester. As said before I am going to study it as a problem play. It is very arguably a comedy when taken in the context of all of other Shakespeare’s, however he had the option up until the end of making it a tragedy and in fact when you look at the life some of the characters had it is a tragedy, but more on that later.
c. Performance – First I want to participate in the video that some of the class is going to work on. In addition I want to attend a few performances this semester. And lastly, thanks to Caroline, I am going to watch movies of the plays and read along. As the plays were meant to be performed I figure a movie is as close as I am going to get with most of these so why not?
d. Legacy - Regarding legacy I think it would be interesting to create a Shakespeare time line. What I mean when I say this is, how he was perceived, at what times he was most popular, when his works were assembled together all the way up to modern findings on the man.
Analyze Shakespeare Critically
· My goals for this section come into play starting tomorrow. I am going to apply one of each of the bullets in this section of the syllabus to the four plays I have chosen for the next four weeks and post on it.
Engage Shakespeare Critically
a. Performance - For the performance part of this section I am going to try to be personally over ambitious. If I can develop the guts I am going to recite a monologue in class. I say recite rather than perform because I like Brook suffer from sever stage fright. I have a decent memory, not the best but I am capable. When I am standing it front of a crowd I become too nervous to even imagine the audience in their underwear. So recite is because it won’t be good acting, simply Shakespeare words which are entertaining enough.
b. Literary Imitation - The first thing that comes to mind for this section is to write. I am going to try to imitate Shakespeare somehow in writing. It is something I enjoy and yet the challenge in this case will be exciting and hopefully not too frustrating. I am excited for this because creative writing is my favorite.
Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
· I have yet to pick a topic for my blog but I am working on it and will decide by the end of this week. I realize I am behind on this but I feel like it is a big decision. Once I have done so I will work on posting frequently on things that just regard my chosen topic.
As a general rule I do my best to refrain from using first person pronouns as much as possible because I never want to sound like as Brian Regan says "a me monster" however since this was my self directed learning plan I found it difficult, so, my apologies!
As a general rule I do my best to refrain from using first person pronouns as much as possible because I never want to sound like as Brian Regan says "a me monster" however since this was my self directed learning plan I found it difficult, so, my apologies!
